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Police say death threat made in cemetery gate theft

By BOB HOOKWAYSpecial to the Union Leader

Angie Beecher

HAVERHILL — A 33-year-old Rumney man has been indicted for allegedly stealing a cemetery gate in Plymouth in 2010 and threatening to kill his alleged lookout in that crime if she testified against him.

A Grafton County Superior Court grand jury indicted Justin MacDonald on charges of being an accomplice to theft by unauthorized taking and being an accomplice to interference with a cemetery or burial ground, both on Aug. 25, 2010, in Plymouth.

The grand jury, during its August session, also handed up a third indictment against MacDonald for tampering with a witness, between November and December 2011, in an unspecified location in Grafton County.

MacDonald "purposely cut up" a gate at Pleasant Valley Cemetery in Plymouth three years ago while Angie Beecher, no address listed, "acted as the lookout for him," according to the indictments.

Beecher was previously indicted in the case.

MacDonald later attempted "to cause Angie Beecher to testify falsely before the grand jury. He threatened to kill Angie Beecher if she said anything about his involvement in the theft of the cemetery gate," according to the indictments.

The charges do not state how MacDonald allegedly disposed of the gate. A number of instances of such thefts in recent years, however, have involved thieves selling iron cemetery gates to scrap metal dealers for cash.

At its March session, the grand jury indicted Beecher on charges of being an accomplice to theft by unauthorized taking and being an accomplice to interference in a cemetery or burial ground. Her case is pending, a court spokesman said Thursday.

The value of the Pleasant Valley Cemetery gate was estimated at between $1,000 and $1,500, according to the indictments.

The grand jury, meeting at the North Haverhill Court, handed up its indictments Aug. 16. They were made public Aug. 20. The three counts against MacDonald are all Class B felonies